''Rjev'' or ''Rzhev'' () was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Hendrik Visser VII'' in 1944 by T U K Smit,

Kinderdijk Kinderdijk () is a town in the municipality of Molenlanden, in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located about east of Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is situated in the Alblasserwaard polder at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rive ...

, Netherlands and completed by

Deutsche Werft Deutsche Werft (English: German Shipyard) was a shipbuilding company in Finkenwerder Rüschpark, Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1918 by Albert Ballin and with Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH), ''Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) and ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for Fisser & Van Doornum,

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

, Germany. She was seized as a

prize of war A prize of war (also called spoils of war, bounty or booty) is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 1 ...

in 1945, passing to the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transpor ...

and renamed ''Empire Gallic''. She was allocated to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1946 and renamed ''Rjev''. She served until 1970 when she was scrapped.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of . She was assessed as , , . The ship was propelled by a

compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

, which had two cylinders of 42 cm (16 inches) and two cylinders of 90 cm (35 inches) diameter by 90 cm (35 inches) stroke. The engine was built by Rheinmetall-Borsig AG,

Tegel Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinke ...

, Germany. Rated at 1,200 IHP, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Hendrik Fisser VII'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1944 as

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

796 by T U K Smit,

, Netherlands for Fisser & Van Doornum,

. She was launched in July 1944 and completed by

Germany in November. Her port of registry was Emden. ''Hendrik Fisser VII'' participated in the

evacuation of East Prussia German civilian population and military personnel were evacuated from East Prussia between 20 January and March 1945. The evacuation was initially organized and carried out by Nazi Germany, state authorities but quickly turned into a chaotic fli ...

, carrying troops of the 21st Infantry Division from

Hela HeLa () is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest human cell line and one of the most commonly used. HeLa cells are durable and prolific, allowing for extensive applications in scientific study. The line is ...

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

. On 12 March 1945, she collided with the ''

vorpostenboot ''Vorpostenboot'' (plural ''Vorpostenboote''), also referred to as VP-Boats, flakships or outpost boats, were German patrol boats which served during both World Wars. They were used around coastal areas and in coastal operations, and were tasked ...

'' V 315 ''Bris'' off Rixhöft. The ''vorpostenboot'' sank. In May 1945, ''Hendrik Fisser VII'' was seized as a

. She was passed to the

. She was renamed ''Empire Gallic''. The

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

GLLS and United Kingdom

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

180615 were allocated. (enter GLLS or Empire Gallic in relevant search box) Her port of registry was

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and she was operated under the management of the Ellerman's Wilson Lines Ltd,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

. In 1946, ''Empire Gallic'' was allocated to the

and was renamed ''Rjev'' (sometimes spelled ''Rzhev''). She was operated under the management of the

Murmansk Shipping Company Murmansk Shipping Company (), often abbreviated as MSCO, was a Russian shipping company based in Murmansk. It was one of the primary shipping companies operating in Arctic Russia and northern Europe, in 2014 the company had 303 vessels, with a to ...

. Her port of registry was

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

. With their introduction in the 1960s, ''Rjev'' was allocated the

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term with two distinct applications: * the IMO ship identification number is a unique ship identifier; or, * the IMO company and registered owner identification number is u ...

5297335. She served until 1970, arriving at Hamburg on 13 July for scrapping by Eisen & Metall.

References

External links

Monochrome photograph of ''Rzhev''

Monochrome photograph of ''Rzhev''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rjev 1944 ships Ships built in the Netherlands World War II merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the Soviet Union Steamships of the Soviet Union Murmansk Shipping Company